3. The Moon’s Shape The Moon seems to change shape. It doesn’t. The change is how much of the Moon you can see.

4. The Sun lights up one side of the Moon. The Moon circles the Earth. Your view of the Moon changes. From Earth, you see different Moon phases.

5. Moon Phases The Moons phases start with the new Moon. The new Moon looks all dark. A few days later a small sliver of moon appears.

6. The next phase looks like a banana. It’s called a crescent Moon.

7. Then the Moon looks like half of a circle. This phase is a quarter Moon.

8. The next phase is a gibbous Moon. It looks like a circle with a crescent cut out.

9. Next, you see all of the sunlit side. It is a full Moon.

10. It’s a Pattern After a full Moon, you see less and less of the sunlit side. Then, there is a new Moon again.

11. One after another, all the Moon phases repeat each month. The phases are one of nature’s patterns.

12. The End